Graduate Application
Graduate Program Overview
Zaytuna’s Master of Arts degree in Islamic Texts is intended to provide students higher-level access to the Islamic tradition through a guided course of study in Islam’s primary sources. The master’s degree is a two-year program that culminates in a summative thesis. The program is intended for students who have completed a degree in Islamic Studies or in such ancillary fields as theology and philosophy, Arabic language and literature, and Islamic jurisprudence or history. Applicants must demonstrate substantial knowledge of the Islamic tradition. In addition, the master’s degree seeks students who can read, discuss, and engage the primary Arabic texts of the Islamic tradition at an advanced level.
The course of studies includes advanced Classical Arabic language and literature, Qur'an, Qur’anic commentaries, Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Mysticism, Islamic Law, and the History of Islam. Furthermore, in each of the concentrations there is a comparative track that will allow the student to study texts in the European tradition that parallel the Islamic texts in their ideas and methods. For example, the study of Islamic Philosophy can be augmented by the study of Latin Scholasticism, or the study of Islamic Mysticism by the readings in Greek Neoplatonism.
The goal of our master’s-level courses and teaching methods is to sharpen the student’s ability to read and analyze primary texts and consider the socio-religious contexts and scholarly sources out of which such texts emerged, while continuing to engage in well-reasoned academic and scholarly discussion and research. Students will also be introduced to methods and research tools in both the Western and Islamic traditions.
Applicants to the Zaytuna MA program must possess advanced competency in Arabic. Accordingly, before acceptance into the academic program, all students will be required to take an Arabic language exam. Students who do not pass this exam and yet show significant promise as scholars in the field must raise their Arabic skills to the required level before being admitted into the program.
Admissions Requirements
- At least four years of Arabic language studies verified by passing a qualification examination administered by Zaytuna College;
- A bachelor’s degree in Islamic Studies or a related field;
- A GPA of 3.5 or higher;
- At least six courses in Islamic Studies in the areas of the Zaytuna M.A. concentration;
- Competency in Qur'anic Studies;
- Sample of best academic writing;
- A statement of academic purpose;
- Three letters of recommendation;
- Official academic transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended;
- Must be a U.S. citizen or resident;
- TOEFL, IELTS or CEFR level scores for non-native speakers of English.

Jawad Qureshi
Email: [email protected]
Director of Master's Program
Jawad Qureshi teaches in the Theology and Philosophy track of Zaytuna College’s graduate program in Islamic Texts. His courses include logic, theology, as well as research methods. His doctoral dissertation at the University of Chicago Divinity School is titled, “Sunni Tradition in Age of Revival and Reform: Said Ramadan al-Buti (1929-2013) and His Interlocutors.” His MA thesis at the University of Georgia-Athens under Keneth Honerkamp and Alan Godlas was titled, “The Book of Errors: A Critical Edition and Study of Kitab al-aghalit of Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami (d. 412/1020).” In addition to degrees in religious studies, he has studied traditionally under ulama in Syria, Jordan, and North America, and continues to do so. His research interests pertain to kalam-theology, Sufism, and Quranic studies.
Selected Works: “Ring Composition in Surat Yusuf (Q. 12),” Journal of the International Qur’anic Studies Association (2) 2018. This paper won the first Andrew Rippin Best Paper Prize (2017) from the International Qur’anic Studies Association.
“Some of ʿAbd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi’s kalām writings,” in ‘Abd al-Ghanī al-Nābulusī and his Network of Scholarship, edited by Lejla Demiri and Samuela Paganini, 2018.
“The Discourses of the Damascene Sunni Ulama during the 2011 Revolution,” in State and Islam in Baathist Syria: Confrontation or Co-optation? (St. Andrews Papers on Contemporary Syria). This paper was translated into Arabic and published by the journal Marasid of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt (2018).
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Education: Ph.D. Candidate University of Chicago Divinity School (Islamic Studies), M.A. University of Georgia-Athens (Religion), B.A. University of Missouri-Columbia (Religious Studies)